Heart pumped to keep Sydney on losing streak

WHEN you are next up to take on a team that has lost its past four matches and conceded 16 goals in the process, then the fixture can take on all the characteristics of a banana skin.

Thus Melbourne Heart, hardly itself in the greatest form, travels north to take on crisis club Sydney FC on Sunday acutely aware there will be plenty of finger pointing in its direction if it becomes the first team in five weeks to fall to the managerless Sky Blues.

Both sides are likely to be hit by international call-ups, with Sydney having two players - Brett Emerton and Terry Antonis - in the Socceroo squad Holger Osieck has gathered in Sydney for next week's East Asian Cup qualifiers in Hong Kong, while Heart has three: Michael Marrone, Aziz Behich and Richard Garcia.

Osieck will trim the squad to 20, but it is likely the Heart trio - all of whom have either played for Australia or been in the squad for World Cup games - will make the cut.

That puts more pressure on the first-season coaching duo of John Aloisi and Hayden Foxe to get a result, with Heart eighth of 10 on the A-League ladder, two points above bottom-of-the-table Sydney.

Teenage defender David Vrankovic, who is usually a centre-back, could replace Marrone at right-back, while Golgol Mebrahtu or youngster Ben Garuccio could be tried forward, where Garcia has been playing well in recent weeks.

Aloisi could also opt to change the team's shape and play with a back three, using Vrankovic in a central defensive line-up with Simon Colosimo and Patrick Gerhardt.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-league/heart-pumped-to-keep-sydney-on-losing-streak-20121127-2a5qp.html